1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to information distribution architectures and arrangements for transporting narrowcast information from a central location via an optical fiber.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Currently, many industries such as cable television (CATV), use proprietary hybrid fiber-coax (HFC) architectures to service a given metropolitan area. As technology has evolved, the trend in system design is to consolidate services, equipment, and information, further upstream, to effect savings in space, cost, and maintenance. Previous implementations have most of the information and equipment concentrated at hub sites due to difficulties in distributing the information. In contrast, recent architectures consolidate equipment and information sources (e.g., satellites, video servers, IP routers, or reception antennas) at so called “head end”, “master head end”, or “regional head-end” structures, that are upstream of hubs. Such architectures allow aggregation of resources which subsequently results in better efficiency, increased service offerings, and increased revenues for the CATV industry.
Further aggregation of services and information beyond a given metropolitan region is inherently advantageous in light of the continuing demand for information and subsequent capital equipment costs for real-time services such as video on demand. Aggregated information may be typically transported over fiber-optic lines to be broadcast to all linked head ends. One impediment to utilizing this scheme of continued consolidation of equipment and information sources is the requirement of dynamically delivering information to locations (or head ends) where the information is requested in a cost effective manner. Such information that is delivered to an individual, or a group of individuals such as a node or a head end is referred to as “narrowcast” content. Therefore, there is a need for an efficient information delivery scheme, by which information, including broadcast and narrowcast information, can be dynamically transported to where it is desired in an efficient and cost effective way.